Ukrainian army plans to use tanks in Debaltsevo area

Commanders of Armed Forces of Ukraine, counting on the resolution of the conflict by force, plan to use T-72B tanks on Debaltsevo direction, said LPR People’s Militia Spokesman Major Andrei Marochko during his briefing today at LuganskInformCenter.

“We found out from trusted source in [Ukraine’s so-called] ‘anti-terrorist operation’ headquarters that the criminal military leaders of Ukraine plan to use modernized T-72B tanks, which arrived to third tank battalion of 54th brigade, on Debaltsevo direction,” Marochko informed.

“Perhaps, this is how Kiev’s death squads started to use ceasefire to prepare foothold to launch a full-scale offensive,” the Spokesman added.

“Kiev junta still counts on solving the conflict by force and does everything possible to do so, violating the agreements reached in Minsk and ignoring all norms of international law and international conventions. This is occurring at a time when agreements were reached as a result of the work of the Contact group on the talks in Minsk on the resuming of ceasefire starting at 00:00 on December 24th, 2016,” he noted.

Marochko said that People’s Militia units “are continuously on combat duty to secure the safety of our citizens and hold combat drills to maintain a high level of preparation to repel any provocations and aggression of Ukrainian death squads.”

“We are still ready for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass through political dialogue, for this purpose we observe the Minsk Agreements,” People’s Militia Spokesman emphasized.

Units of Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the support of artillery, launched breakthrough attempts in the area of Debaltsevo on December 18. According to LPR People’s Militia, up to 40 Ukrainian militants were killed and 50 were injured. Four servicemen of the Republic were killed, five were injured.